The Spirit of Life
by TailsMoon
Summary: So Ed's Dad isn't fully human, what happens if Ed inhereted the non-human side, but it morphed into an ability? How does Ed deal with it, and how does Al deal with Ed?
1. A Train and a Bridge

(1)

Two brothers sat on a train, their destination, Resembool. The younger of the two, Alphonse Elric, was 16. The elder, Edward Elric, was 17.

Alphonse, or Al, sat up straighter in the uncomfortable seats.

"How did you ever manage to sleep on these things?" Al complained.

"…"

"Big Brother?"

"At least you can tell how uncomfortable the seats are."

A silence descended on the two. Now that Al had his body back the subject of him having been a suit of armor was practically taboo, but that wasn't the only problem.

Al sighed and tried apologizing to Ed for the hundredth time, "Big Brother I'm sorry!" He was apologizing for what had happened a week before.

"…" Ed just looked out the window at the blurred scenery. The scenery though was far below, over the side of a cliff. If Ed were to look out the other side of the train, he would only see a large, steep rock face. They were currently going around the largest mountain in the area, although as far as mountains went, it was small.

~.~Pagey Breaky~.~

"You fucking bastard! I am NOT SHORT for the last time!" Ed shouted at Mustang. The Colonel had once again implied that the teen was short.

Al suddenly broke in. "Shut the hell up!"

Ed and Roy, the only two currently in the room with Al, both froze and stared at him in shock. For Al to lose his temper, let alone curse, even to the slightest extent, was almost unheard of.

"Big Brother you should just get over the fact that you're short! Because you ARE SHORT! You've been having the same EXACT fight with Mr. Mustang for years now! Grow up already!"

Ed didn't move. He didn't even blink. Then all at once he looked down, Al catching the pained look that had spread across his face.

Al gasped. "Big Brother, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!"

Ed turned and handed Mustang his report, ignoring Al.

After Ed took his hand back he changed his stance to the proper pose used for respect. He saluted. His face blank and his eyes glossed over.

"Sir, I apologize for my late report and any disrespect I have shown you, sir! You may court martial me if you see it fit, sir!"

Ed stood there for another moment before Roy realized what Ed was doing.

"Fullmetal, you can go."

"Thank you, sir!" Ed actually exited the office in the proper manner.

Al exited straight after him, apologizing some more.

XDPagey BreakyXD

Only another minute had passed since Al had last apologized. That's when Ed finally turned from the window and looked at Al.

Ed took a deep breath then launched into a sentence, throwing Al off guard.

"Al I'm really sorry about ignoring you and the way I've been acting and you're right I'm short!"

Ed took another deep breath before banging his head on the window.

"There! I said it! Not like I ever win any fights between us anyways…"

Al stared at Ed for a second, and then started to laugh. Ed joined in and the two laughed loudly, together.

Their laughter was cut short when the train shook, the vibrations from a large explosion somewhere ahead reaching them.

Almost everyone on the train stuck their heads out of the closest window to try to see where such an explosion could have occurred.

Ed and Al were just starting to stand when the train's emergency brakes were engaged. Al was sent flying forwards, tumbling past Ed and over his seat. Ed had managed to grab and hold onto the window using his automail hand.

People were screaming, many of them also sprawled out on the ground or thrown into another seat. Ed, though, looked out of the window.

The train had almost come to a complete stop when it started to speed up again. People who were starting to stand were knocked back down by the change.

Ed clapped his hands and touched the side of the train. Ceiling and walls becoming hands, reaching towards the ground, trying to take hold.

The hands broke off, the weight of the train too much to stop.

"Damn! Everyone! You need to jump off!" Ed yelled as the ground flattened out and widened a bit, the cliff's edge and the rock face becoming further apart.

This caused even more panic, adding to the panic caused by the walls and ceiling disappearing and the movements of the train. No one else had had enough time to see that the tracks just ahead of them were gone, the front end of the train slowly, but becoming quicker now as the weight built up, fell off over the side of the damaged bridge, into the river far below.

For now, the car in which the Elric brothers were in was still over hard ground. The hard ground was coming to an end, fast.

Ed cursed again, reaching over the seat and grabbing Al, who was trying again to stand up. He then proceeded in throwing Al off of the train.

Ed, as quickly as he could, began to kick people off of the train. Landing hard on the ground was better for them than falling with the train into the water.

As he kicked the last person over, Ed jumped. He had no time to save the passengers in any other cars.

He landed on the very edge of the ground. He teetered on the edge, but quickly gained his footing. The passengers that Ed had kicked over stared in horror as the train sped past them, and out into the air. Screams could be heard from inside the cars.

Then the last of the train went by, and was gone. (2)

Al came running up to Ed.

"Big Brother! Are you alright?!"

Ed nodded, walking a little closer to the train tracks.

"We'll have to get back to that last station we stopped in before another train heads out this way."

The other passengers had begun to gather around the Elric brothers, some of them seemingly unhurt, others holding a broken arm or being supported by someone to get off of a broken leg. All in all, they were better off than those that hadn't gotten off of the train.

Ed and Al, before beginning the trek back to the last station took time out to create some crutches or casts for the injured.

The group hadn't gone more than five steps when a second explosion occurred. It was much smaller than the earlier explosions, but it had a sister explosion across the river. It was meant to take out the last of the bridge.

The ground the group was standing on began to crack and crumble as the bridge a few feet away broke away.

"MOVE!" Ed yelled at them as smoke and ash blinded and choked them. They took his shout as an order and moved, quickly.

The group had moved a good distance away when Al came to a dead stop. Ed wasn't with them anymore.

"Big Brother?!" He searched the group one last time before turning, frenzied, to the cloud of settling dust.

Some of the older people in the group realized who it was that was missing.

Al started to take off towards the broken and crumbling ground, but a man grabbed onto him and held him back. Even though the man looked like he was a scrawny but rich man, he was strong enough to hold Al.

"Boy! You cannot go over there! You will fall!"

"But!"

"You CANNOT!" As the man said this, more of the group gathered to hold Al back.

"There is nothing you can do! Nothing any of us can do!" a women said.

Al called out one last time before falling to the ground, sobbing. "Big Brother" echoed off and around the mountain.

The passengers were right after all, even if Ed had grabbed onto the side of the cliff, whatever he would have grabbed would have fallen away with him.

.Pagey Breaky.

By the time Ed realized that he was falling backwards, it was too late to right himself. For Ed, everything seemed to slow down, the adrenaline heightening his senses. He almost called out to Al, but the ground right behind Al's feet was already giving way, and calling out to him would cause him to fall too.

So Ed tried to grab a hold of something, anything, but there wasn't anything within reach.

So he fell.

He didn't even feel himself hit the water. Everything was just black. Everything was cold.

"Big Brother!!" he heard Al scream, and start crying.

"_I wonder what's wrong with Al?" _he thought. "_Maybe he fell and cut his knee or something._"

At that thought, Ed realized something was wrong with him.

"_Why would I think that?_" Ed tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't tell if they were open or not. If he could guess, Ed would say he was floating, face up.

"_Am I blind?_" was his first thought, and then he realized he wasn't breathing, that other than the cold, he couldn't feel anything.

"_No, I'm not blind… I'm… dead._"

"**You must think you're dead, don't you? If you were dead, you'd be in front of the gate you know.**"

Ed attempted to speak, but failed. He had tried to say "Who's There!?"

The voice laughed.

"**We've had this discussion before. Remember? I'm still glad you asked. The reaction to my speech is the best!**"

And so the voice launched into his spiel.

"**I'm what you would call 'The World.' Or 'The Universe.' Or 'God.' Or 'Truth. Or 'All.' Or 'One.' And… I'm 'You.'**" (3)

Ed, if he could talk, would have interrupted before Truth ever even started to list what you would call him.

Al's crying was becoming stifled, further away.

"**You want to see your brother again, don't you?**" Truth asked, suddenly in front of Ed, sitting on the 'ground.'

Ed, who had had the feeling of floating on his back, was suddenly standing on his feet.

"Wha?!" Ed gasped, aloud.

"**Welcome back to your body.**"

Ed's haze cleared almost instantly. "What do I have to give up to go back?" He asked, glaring at Truth.

"**Absolutely nothing. You actually gain your arm and leg back as well.**"

Never having had anything handed to him on a silver platter, Ed glared at Truth.

"What's the catch?"

"**Did you know your Father was only part human? You've inherited the non-human part. You're human part is dead now. However, even before you were born, the human side had been dwindling, being consumed by the rest as it grew. All in all, you didn't really lose anything when you died, other than your hair color.**"

The Truth laughed as Ed grabbed his hair and pulled it in front of his eyes. He didn't believe Truth, not until he saw his hair. It was still blond, so to speak, but it was much paler, almost white. At the same time it seemed black, although there was no such thing as gray within it.

"The hell did you do?!"

"**Congratulations. You have become a type of spirit. By the looks of you I'd have to say you would be a spirit of Life.**"

"_I would have thought… light…_" Ed thought, surprised he believed any of this.

"**Of course you believe it! I can't lie!**"

Ed was taken aback.

"**And I know all, so yes I know what you are thinking.**"

"Then-"

"**Be careful with your now unlocked abilities. If you wreck that planet of yours I won't be very pleased with you, Edward.**"

Before Ed could ask anything, he was suddenly floating again, but this time he was in the water.

Bits and pieces of luggage from the train floated around him.

Ed's lungs hurt; there was nothing but water within them. On top of dying from the impact with the water, his body had also drowned.

Thinking quickly, Ed calmed himself from a near panic. If his body wasn't telling him to struggle for air, now of all times, he figured he didn't need it.

He looked at his hands, both of them made of flesh and blood. Ed smiled as a small fish swam past his ear.

That's when he noticed that luggage wasn't the only thing floating in the water around him.

D:Pagey BreakyD:

(1) We ALL know I don't own FMA right…?

(2) I got the idea of a train wreck from another fanfiction by Arktos called By Chance or Changing Course. Train wreck isn't exactly completely Arktos' idea either, but since that's where I got my idea from, I figured I should post credit.

(3) This line is NOT MINE! I copied it from the 6th volume of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. Since this one REALLY isn't mine, I KNEW I had to give credit!

If you liked it even the slightest bit and want to read more of this…. Review. Reviews are my only motivation for writing fanfiction, and if I don't get enough of them I abandon the story. If it seems only a few people like it, I'll go back to making animations to put on youtube.

By the way, don't ask why I've been using smilies and going Pagey Breaky… even I don't know. I just felt like it I guess. As for the plot, I give credit to my niece. I based this all off of an RP we did once.


	2. Water Spirits are Insane

Dead bodies, broken, twisted, some even missing limbs or maybe it was only a limb, even a decapitated head, littered the water around Ed.

They slowly drifted in the current, all blood having already been swept away.

What surprised Ed the most was that one of them was moving. To be more precise, it was swimming towards him.

As it got closer to him he could make it out better.

It was a girl about his age. She seemed to be wearing Ed's coat, but somehow it was now a dress. Her hair was like Ed's, but bluish in tint and much longer and wavier. It reached down to her knees. The most shocking thing about this girl was that her ears weren't ears, they were fins.

She swam right up to Ed, and then grabbed one of his hands.

"That was awesome!" she said, her voice sounding light and bubbly. "I didn't know humans could turn into spirits!"

Ed tried to speak, but couldn't.

"Silly! You're a life spirit, aren't you? You can't talk underwater!"

Her bright smile and happy voice clashed terribly with the surroundings.

"I'm Undine! (1) I'm a water spirit! I wish I were human, but that's impossible. At least I think it is, I thought it was impossible for a human to become a spirit too!"

Ed glared at her and pulled his hand away. He didn't need this strange girl bothering him right now. He started to swim up to the surface.

Undine didn't seemed the least bit put off by Ed's actions.

"Are you planning to bring any of the passengers back to life?" she asked.

Ed spun around and looked down at the water spirit.

She continued to smile. "I bet you didn't know you could do that!" Undine's smile faded, "Life spirits are the best of the spirits. They're so lucky! They can do anything and go anywhere! Did you know a water spirit dies if it leaves the water? It's not fair!"

The water started to move faster as Undine became upset. Ed didn't notice, and he hadn't paid any attention to the rest of what the talkative spirit was saying.

He just looked at his hands.

"_Bring someone back to life? I can do that? What's the price for such a happening though?_"

Ed got an idea. He motioned for Undine to follow him to the surface. She complied.

The moment Ed's head exited the water he started to cough, water gushing out of his filled lungs.

Undine didn't surface, but stayed under the water.

"I'll help!" she said, making a motion with her hands.

Ed stopped coughing as he felt the water pulled out of his lungs. It was the strangest sensation he had ever felt.

The moment the water was gone, Ed took a deep breath. He launched straight into his questions.

"What's the price for me bringing someone back to life? How do I do it? What is GOING ON?"

The last question wasn't exactly directed at Undine. Ed was just saying it because he had been proven wrong on so many levels in about five minutes that he couldn't stand it.

Not only did he find out that there were magical type beings in the world, he found out that he was one of them. He died and then came back to life, then stayed underwater without air and didn't drown. Now he was being told he could bring the dead back to life by a fish girl.

Undine cocked her head to the side. "I don't know how you do it since I can't do it, but I've seen a life spirit bring someone back before. He held out his hands and he sort of absorbed all the injuries that had killed the plant. I heard it can be done for humans too." She seemed to understand that the last question wasn't for her.

"Wouldn't that kill _me?_"

Undine shrugged, "I don't think so.

Ed looked down into the water. A small child floated nearby, her eyes and mouth both wide open with fear.

Ed decided to try. He sank under the water and held his hands out towards the child.

Nothing happened for almost five hours as Ed tried various tactics. He surfaced whenever he got uncomfortable holding his breath.

Finally, Ed shivered and gave up.

"Maybe you're more inclined towards soul reading rather than soul summoning? Or maybe healing? Maybe you're only good with plants. Maybe you can't even do the white arts of a Life Spirit? Maybe you're a black arts user." Undine asked him. She had watched him the whole time, not leaving his side.

Ed didn't even have to ask what black arts for a life spirit would be. It had to be killing.

This thought called Truth's words about not wrecking the world to him.

Ed started swimming towards the closest bank. He wanted out of that dreadful water. One thing that Ed was happy about was that he still remembered how to swim from when he was younger and not weighted down by automail.

Undine followed him all the way to the bank. As Ed pulled himself out of the water, Undine grabbed onto his leg.

"If you're going to leave me, could you at least tell me your name? Maybe you could come visit me sometime?"

"Don't you have other water spirity friends to talk to?"

"Of course not. Each water spirit must remain near the center of his or her section of water. We die if we leave the water and we die if we exit the area allotted to us. Fire spirits hate us, and air spirits don't like to ever stay in one spot for more than a moment. You're the first anything I've talked to in years! Only fish, trash, and the dead are ever in my section of the river…"

Ed suddenly realized that was probably true. This area was in the middle of nowhere, large cities upstream were probably where the trash came from too.

He pulled his leg away and out of the water. Undine's hand didn't follow past the surface.

"How long do you get to be out of the water before you die?" he asked.

"Only about two minutes once a week. It's painful to leave the water."

"Maybe… maybe I can help."

Undine's eyes widened. She leaped out of the water, not a single drop clinging to her. Ed watched as she seemed to start to shrivel, the moisture leaving her skin. She stood on the ground, hugging herself, obviously in pain.

Ed suddenly knew exactly how to do what he wanted to do.

He reached out his right hand, taking her right hand in his. He concentrated on her wrist.

A glowing blue bracelet appeared around each of their wrists. Ed could feel his energy being used by Undine as her skin returned to normal.

He let go of her hand. She stood staring at the bracelet, tears in her eyes.

"I-I'm free…"

"Sort of. The further away from me you are, the more energy you're taking from me. I'm not sure how far, but I know you have to stay pretty close or this is going to be really hard for me…"

"That's fine! It's more freedom than I ever imagined!" and she hugged him. "Thank you! Thank you!" and she cried into his chest.

Ed was blushing as bright a red as his jacket and Undine's dress.

"By the way, Undine, I'm Edward Elric. Everyone calls me Ed though." He almost added on a comment about how short Undine must be if she was crying into Ed's chest, but seeing as that would also be calling himself short, he threw the thought out.

"_I wonder what Al will think of my hair?_" Ed looked at the crying girl that was hugging him. "_I wonder what he'll think about Undine? She's got the weird hair and weird ears!_"

After a while, Undine had calmed down enough that the two could start walking down the beach. They would have to go around the cliff to get back up.

"Undine, where did you get that dress?" asked Ed, once again noting that it was basically his coat, symbol and all.

"It looked like yours does! It was floating in the water, and it was such a pretty color I had to have it. I'm very good at sewing, and very quick too. I turned it into this dress. Do you like it?"

Ed nodded, but he wondered about the sewing. He couldn't see any seam in the front and the fact that it billowed into a skirt now was also odd. He gave up thinking about it. Why should it be impossible? Too much unbelievable things were already happening.

"Edward Elric?"

"I told you, call me Ed."

"Ed, does the river go through the town we are heading to?"

"I think so, why?"

Undine grabbed Ed's hand and dragged him into the water. The moment she had him under the water she took off, dragging Ed through the water with her.

They shot down the river.

When they reached the edge of town, Undine slowed down and the two exited the water. Undine once again came out completely dry, but Ed was absolutely soaked again.

Undine pushed the water off of him.

"Well that's handy," Ed commented. Undine smiled and started singing. Her voice just as bright and bubbly as it was under the water.

Ed led the way into the town, Undine singing the whole way. She was ecstatic. She had never been in a town before.

* * *

(1) Ever play Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Vesperia, or Tales of Phantasia? Undine might appear in a few others, but I only know of her appearance in these. I couldn't think of a better name than Undine if it's a water spirit. So that's the basis, but Undine is actually sort of me! I've long ago adopted the image of Undine and shaped it to how I want it to be.

Other than that.... I hope you'll review! Flame for all I care! I just want to see reviews! It's makes me very happy (even if you're telling me how much you hate the story or something!)!


	3. Shinigami and apples

A/N: Read this as if Ed is in shock and sort of freaking out. He's having a very bad day full of life changing events.... If I haven't pounded this into your head yet, it's going to get worse because I'm practically beating you over the head with this info throughout the chapter.

Oh, and.... Review plz!!! Constructive criticism is REALLY wished for, I want to be able to write better, and if I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I can't get better.

* * *

Undine ran around pointing at just about anything and asking Ed what it was. Ed answered her, but he was more so trying to get somebody's attention. He wanted to know where the survivors of the crash had gone to.

"Wow! Ed, what's this?"

"An apple. Excuse me, do you- Hey, can you tell me where-"

"What's this called?"

"That is a piece of trash. Hey-" Another stranger walked by, ignoring Ed.

"Listen to me damn it!" A moment passed and no one turned to even glance at Ed. That's when it occurred to Ed that he had never known of the existence of spirits until he had become one. He didn't have any idea how to deal with that, but he did want to try something.

He walked up to the fruit stand that Undine was examining. The shop keeper was calling to the crowd to see his wares.

That's when Ed picked up an apple.

"Um, Ed, you shouldn't do that."

"I'm just testing what will happen."

Undine covered her ears as Ed held the apple up higher, in the shop keeper's face. Only a second passed as the shop keeper's attention focused on the apple. His expression changed from surprise to fear in that time.

"GHOST!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed as he practically flew out of his stall and ran away. The attention the shop keeper's scream had attracted then caused mass panic as other people noticed the 'floating' apple.

Ed quickly put the apple down. It was too late to stop the people who had seen from running.

"I don't get it. I know I've run into a few people. They can even see the apple I was holding. Why can't they see me?"

"You're not human."

"A homunculus isn't human either."

"Well, we're spirits. Ghosts."

"Why can't I go through walls then?"

"Why would you be able to go through a wall?"

Ed gave up. Undine was not following him very well. Undine seemed to take a lot of Ed's energy, both from the bracelet and the fact that they clearly didn't see the world from the same side of the river.

"Let's go."

"Go where?"

"To find my brother." Undine followed without any more questions.

Seeing as how Ed couldn't ask for directions to where Al would be, he figured he'd just head to the station. He figured he'd be able to find a hospital on the way there. It was the likeliest place.

_"If Al can't see or hear me, I'll write. It'll suck, but at least he'll know I'm ok."_

Luckily, the town wasn't too big and was laid out simply. With or without directions, Ed had managed to find the hospital.

He burst through the front doors, scaring the receptionist. Ed had never liked being unnoticed, and being invisible and unable to be heard was making him pretty mad.

"Oh my, what a wind."

Ed just left the doors open and started wandering through the building, Undine following quietly for once. Ed wasn't in the mood to talk just then.

He didn't bother being careful with the doors. He just kicked them in as quickly as he could. He was having the worst day of his life. Or maybe it was his death. Or even his rebirth. He didn't know what to call it, but his day was looking to be worse than any other day he had ever experienced, and that was saying something. Kicking the doors helped.

As he kicked in yet another door, Al walked by him. Ed stopped his rampage and wreckage of doors. He didn't notice the many doctors, nurses, and patients he had managed to disturb. Al was coming to see what the noise was.

"Al!" Ed grabbed Al's arm. Not the best idea, but he couldn't think of any other way to specifically get Al's attention.

Al spun around. Seeing as no one was there he tried to pull his arm out of Ed's hold.

"What in the world?"

Ed pulled at Al, trying to make him follow.

"Undine, do you think you could go get me a pencil and some paper or something?"

"What are those?"

Before Ed had time to explain, he got his hands smacked. He let go, cursing. Everyone except Al had gone back to what they had been doing.

Describing what a pencil and paper were to Undine probably wouldn't work to well. Ed didn't want to get them himself. He figured he'd lose Al if he let him out of his sight. So as Ed tried to figure out how to get Al to realize he was there, he followed him around. His first hope was that he would pass by a desk, but Ed's luck wouldn't allow that to happen.

"You could give him a hug?" Undine piped up.

"That would give Al all sorts of ideas, but me giving him a hug would not be anywhere near the top of that list."

"Why?"

Ed sighed. Undine asked too many questions of the stressed alchemist. Which gave him an idea. He could use alchemy to show Al that he was there.

By this point, they had all entered into one of the rooms, presumably Al's. Ed had been hit in the face with a closing door as Al had closed it after himself.

When this happened, Al gave an odd look at the door and then left it open. He sat down on his bed.

"Whoever you are, you're in here, right? Close the door."

Ed was a little surprised that Al was talking to him. Technically, he was talking to Undine too, but Ed didn't care about that.

So, Ed closed the door after asking Undine to wait outside.

"Um, what are you?"

This was Ed's chance. He clapped his hands together and touched the floor. Nothing happened.

Damn it! Why?!"

"H-hello?" Al was sounding unsure now.

Ed promptly improvised alchemy and just walked up to Al and pushed him. He felt a bit bad for doing it, but he couldn't see any loose items in the room to mess with.

"What's your name?"

Ed had no way to answer. It didn't take long for Al to realize his mistake.

"Well, maybe you could spell it into my hand?" Ed slapped himself in the head.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that…"

He took Al's hand and started spelling.

A-L-I-T-S-M-E-E-D

Al's lip quivered.

"C-Could you spell that again? I think I misread that."

So Ed respelled it.

Al started crying.

"You're dead?! How are y-you still here?"

P-A-P-E-R

Al nodded, understanding. He went to go get some. Ed followed him, and Undine followed Ed. The tearful Al ended up having to buy some at the general store across the street from the hospital. Of course, he didn't have any money, but the owner was nice enough to just give him some. Al got a pencil from the receptionist.

Al handed them over when they got back to the room. Ed took them and wrote out everything that had happened to him before he even let Al look at it.

When Al finished reading, he didn't look as horribly sad as he had earlier. He didn't have anything to say, but Ed had one more thing to add.

"I wonder if Winry will let me get out of drinking milk if she feels sorry for me?"

Al laughed a bit as he read it. Ed ruffled his hair.

"You know, Big Brother. The crash was yesterday. Mustang is going to be here soon, along with a search party to look for survivors."

_"Good for him. Al, you should eat something."_

"I ate just before you got here. I'm fine. How are we going to tell Mustang about what happened to you Big Brother?"

_"We can just let him read my explanation. No need for me to write it all out again, right?"_

"You're ok with that?"

_"He's a bastard, but I guess I owe him enough to tell him."_

As the two talked, sort of, Undine came in and join them.

Ed was in the middle of writing something when Undine piped up.

"I'm bored. Do you think your brother can turn into a spirit too?"

Ed's pencil made a large gash across the paper.

"Ah! Big Brother?"

"Then we could travel around together, just the three of us."

"Big Brother, are you ok?"

Ed glared at Undine. He wasn't sure whether or not the water spirit was a huge, energy draining hassle or if she was a knowledgeable, helpful guide.

"Ed?"

_"Sorry about that, Undine sort of snuck up on me."_

Al blinked and then just bowed towards the door. "Nice to meet you, I'm Alphonse Elric. You can call me Al."

Undine giggled and took Ed's pencil and paper.

"Hey! Give those back."

She scribbled on it and handed it to Al. He stared at the scribble.

"Undine, can you even read?" was Ed's question as he took a look at the scribble.

"Nope!"

Ed took back the writing things. He dropped them as the door was flung open with a crash.

Mustang and his gang had arrived.

* * *

Hmmm..... I fell as though this chapter is worse than usual. Oh well, I had fun writing it, but I'm pretty sure it was a lot better in my head than it is on paper.......computer. It was on paper, but the chapter I wrote on paper and the one I wrote on the computer are really different. I changed some key points, but I doubt you'll ever know what points I changed, mwhahaha.


	4. OverWorld

"Sir, you can't come in here." A distraught nurse said, trying to get Mustang to leave.

"Alphonse. Where's your brother?" Mustang asked. He knew only the basic details of the crash and that Ed had been the one to save what was left of the passengers. He hadn't managed to find Ed's room though.

"About that…" Al looked at the notepad that was lying on the bed next to him. Without Ed holding it he didn't know exactly where in the room he was. Al picked the notepad up and held it out for Mustang to come and take.

The nurse gave up and left as Mustang pushed her towards the door. He started to read, thinking that the notepad must be important for Alphonse to be handing it to him now.

When he had finished Mustang really wasn't sure what to say. He started with, "I don't believe this one bit. If this is true, prove it." He had yet to comment on the strange scribbles at the end of the notes.

"Um, Big Brother, could you?" A minute passed. "Big Brother?"

Mustang gave Al a worried look before putting the notepad down and walking out into the hall. He was thinking Al might have snapped a bit and a woman's touch might be in order.

For now, Mustang would keep his growing worries for the eldest Elric to himself.

* * *

"Undine! Where are you going?" Ed asked her as he walked along side her. When Mustang had come in she had slipped out. Mustang had barely even started to read when Ed was forced to go after Undine, she was getting too far away from him. It had taken him a minute to figure out how to find her, but he had managed.

"I don't know."

Ed did a double take. "You… don't know?"

"I saw something out here."

"Could you look later? That was sort of important."

"That can wait," she said as she continued walking to whatever it was that had caught her attention. Ed assumed she had seen it through the window in Al's hospital room.

As Undine walked faster, Ed fell a little behind.

He mumbled to himself. "She's supposed to be the one that has to stay close to me, not the other way around. I feel like I'm on a leash. Maybe I shouldn't have helped her." Of course, Ed didn't mean that, but this was more constraint upon him than he had had since he was little.

* * *

Mustang and his crew members stood out in the hall as Riza spoke to Al.

"What was all that about sir?" Havoc asked.

Mustang hesitated. That small moment was all it took to send worry into his crew.

"Fullmetal fell from the cliff." At this point he didn't believe the rest of what Alphonse had shown him. "And as you all know, chance of survival is very slim."

Fuery suddenly spoke out, "This is Ed we're talking about though!"

"Fullmetal isn't invincible. You all know that."

"So we're just giving up on him then?" Breda said.

"There is a slight chance he's still alive, and any chance is enough to cause us to believe he's fine, sir," was Falman's input.

Riza stepped out into the hall.

Mustang changed gears for a moment, he'd come back to the topic of Fullmetal in a moment.

"Lieutenant, report, how is Alphonse?"

"He's asleep now. I managed to talk him out of what he thought happened. It seems he was nearby when Edward fell."

"Sir!" Fuery said, pulling Mustang's attention back to their previous conversation.

Mustang nodded. "Understood. I'm assigning you all to look for Fullmetal. Riza, stay here and keep watch over Alphonse."

They gave brief smiles as they all saluted, "Sir!"

* * *

Undine was sprinting through the streets now, Ed trailing a short distant behind her.

"Undine, wait up!! ~pant~ slow down ~pant~ dammit!"

She cut a sharp right down an alley. When Ed raced into it Undine was gone, a large wall creating a dead end in front of him. He stopped in front of it.

"Where the hell did she go?"

A familiar laugh came from behind the wall. "Hurry up Ed! I found it!~"

Surprisingly, when Undine's hand came through the wall to pull Ed through it Ed wasn't all that surprised.

Ed stepped through the wall only to find himself standing on a walkway suspended on a cloud. Undine laughed at the look on Ed's face as he looked around at the city suspended in air.

"Welcome to the OverWorld!"

Somehow, Ed felt different then he had a moment before. Looking down at himself he couldn't tell that anything had changed though.

"It's wonderful here, isn't it? I saw the entrance form from your brother's room. It's so hard to find an entrance and get to it before it disappears that I've only been here a few times. You're so lucky!"

"Uh, I guess? Hey, wouldn't this be considered leaving the water?"

"Oh, no! The OverWorld is the place where all spirits are born. You were already here once weren't you?"

Ed shook his head.

"No? I thought everything came here when they died though. They end up in the Sanctuary in the Room of Light. You know, so that they can meet God before they go into the Gate."

Undine reached out and touched a small spec of light as it floated up past her. It floated on towards a large building that sat on its own cloud. Ed watched it as it joined up with multiple other lights and then as it joined a large column of the lights before it entered into the building.

Ed could guess what they were. "Those are the dead?"

"Yup. Dead animals, plants, and even people and spirits go there when they die from whatever world or dimension they're from."

"Ha! Al would never believe this! I guess there really is a Heaven."

"Heaven? No, it's OverWorld, not Heaven."

Ignoring her, Ed went to examine a cloud. He had practically forgotten about Mustang and Al when Undine called out to him.

"Ah!"

Ed jumped at Undine's loud shout. He turned around thinking she was going to fall or something. Instead he saw her jumping up and down, a huge smile on.

"It's hiii~m" she squeeled.

Ed turned to see what Undine was looking at, sighing. She got so excited about the smallest things.

It turned out that it wasn't such a small thing that had her excited this time. The Truth was walking towards them.

"I figured you two would come if I created a door for you. How are you fairing with your new style of living Edward Elric?"

"It sucks! What would I have to do to be turned back?"

"You don't like it?"

"Hell no. No one can see me and I can't talk to anybody."

"Is that so? Well, I suppose I could turn you human, but there would be a price for it."

"There always is." Even though Ed said it sarcastically, he was worried. He wasn't sure if he'd be able or willing to pay the price.

"Remember how I told you not to destroy the world?"

"How could I forget?" Ed paused for a moment. "Are you actually going to tell me what I need to do?"

"You're not a human Edward Elric, I can speak freely with you. So, yes, I am going to tell you what must be done. You must save the world and you must do so with Undine's help."

Undine, who had been standing sadly by, feeling betrayed, suddenly looked up.

"My help?"

"Undine's help?"

"Yes. She wishes to be human as well and saving the world is a large enough price that it'll cover the two of you. It is a big job after all."

"How exactly are we supposed to 'save the world'?"

The Truth laughed. "I can't tell you everything you know. I'll give you a little help though."

Truth snapped his glowing fingers and Ed and Undine suddenly found themselves falling through blackness. They landed heavily back in the alleyway.

"A little help he says," Ed grumbled as he helped Undine up, "A little help getting thrown on the ground maybe!"

* * *

Mustang looked at the river in front of him ignoring the working men and women around him. It was a gruesome sight, wreckage and swelling bodies everywhere. Many of the bodies had already been pulled from the water and covered, but there were so many more to go.

"_It's almost as bad as Ishbal. I'm going to kill you if you're dead Fullmetal."_ Mustang almost laughed at the thought, but he was in no mood to laugh.

The sound of someone throwing up echoed around the area. Some soldier green behind the ears had just lost his lunch from the sight.

Mustang noticed that many parts of the train were no were to be seen.

"_That's right, they're too heavy to float all the way down here." _The knowledge that Ed couldn't swim because his automail pulled him down came into Mustang's thoughts.

Just before he managed to move off to investigate, for surely if Fullmetal were dead he'd be there, another officer walked up.

"Excuse me, Colonel Mustang, sir, but I have a message relayed from the Fuhrer. He says that you're being put in charge of the investigation on whoever destroyed the bridge and for what reason the bridge was destroyed, sir."

"Thank you, dismissed." Mustang cursed to himself at his luck.

"Sir!"

Mustang looked for one of his men, he'd set them on the task while he dealt with his new problem.

Breda was the first one he found. Calling him over he ordered him to go up the river to the bridge and search there for Fullmetal.

"You really think he's there, sir?"

"He's there if he's dead for sure. If you don't find him… Come get me immediately if you don't find him. Take Falman, Havoc, and Fuery with you as well."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

Yaaaay! Aren't you proud of me for updating? Anyways, I drew a picture of what Undine and Ed look like if any of you want to look at it. (talismoon.(deviantart).com/art/Undine-and-Edward-161892300) is the web address (just take out the parenthesis. Sorry, they had to be there for you to see it)).


	5. Avoid Midnight

"feak anime  
2010-04-29 . chapter 4

i love this story. it would be funny if ed decede to pay a little vist. no yaoi though. just humer. if you catch my drift."

As a response to your review… I must say that's a great idea! I'm a little past using it as how I think you mean it, but there is most certainly a way I can work it in!!

* * *

The work had come to a stop for the night. Nobody could see well enough to continue, but the main reason was that everyone was so tired that they didn't want to continue. Many wouldn't sleep that night, the makeshift military base not helping them any.

Breda and the others walked up to Mustang as he was handed yet another report on how the investigation was going. Luckily, his day was almost over for now as well.

"Sir!"

"Breda, what did you find?" Mustang asked, his voice was firm but his men could tell he was tired and worried.

"Nothing, sir."

Mustang sighed. If Fullmetal wasn't there, he wasn't sure where the boy could be.

Mustang was handed another report. It was the last one.

"You're dismissed. Go get some rest," he said to his crew.

"Well," Fuery said, "if you don't mind sir, I was hoping that I could go see Alphonse again?"

"Alphonse needs his rest. I'm sure Hawkeye will tell us all when he's feeling well enough to see us all again."

Fuery nodded in understanding before he and the others saluted and started to the car that would get them all back to town. Mustang followed behind them, carrying a large stack of papers.

"_Cursed paper work! I'm not even in my office and I'm still getting it._"

* * *

Ed had managed to find his way back to the hospital again. It was late and Undine followed quietly behind, tired.

When Ed walked into Al's room, he was surprised to find Hawkeye sitting in a chair near Al's bed. Al was asleep.

What really surprised Ed was that Hawkeye had wiped her gun out and was now pointing it at the wide open door.

"Who's there?" she said, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. She had properly closed the door herself a little while ago, it shouldn't be suddenly swinging wide open.

Ed decided it was best to get out of the doorway before Hawkeye fired. The moment he was through Undine walked past him and sat down on another chair. Her movements to get comfortable enough to sleep caused the chair to move a bit. The gun suddenly swung towards the chair.

"Hawkeye, what are you doing?" Mustang suddenly said from the doorway. Hawkeye had jumped and almost shot him, but she had more control than that.

"Sorry sir. The door had opened and a chair moved. Someone might be in the room sir."

Mustang became highly serious, his eyes scanning the room fiercely.

"I don't see anything."

"Neither do I, sir."

Ed hadn't noticed he had been backing up, as if to escape Mustang and Hawkeye's search of the room, until he bumped into the wall. The thud it had made was small, but Hawkeye had her gun back out again and Mustang's fingers were poised to snap.

It only took half a second for the two to attack the spot where Ed stood before they had realized that there wasn't 'anything there to fire at.'

Ed was lucky enough to only get a little singed as he dived out of the way. He had been near the corner of the room and his only escape option was towards the door. He slammed past Mustang as he fell out into the hallway, fearing for his well being.

Mustang was shocked to be pushed. That's when his thoughts fell on the notepad Al had shown him earlier. Speaking of Al, the gunshot had woken him up.

"What's going on?"

"Alphonse, do you still believe you were speaking with Fullmetal earlier?"

"Well…"

"Do you?"

"Y-yeah."

Mustang felt slightly stupid for doing it, and he felt ashamed to try in front of Hawkeye, but he called out.

"Fullmetal?"

Ed, who was standing in the hallway, listening, walked back into the room. He'd let the Colonel sweat for a minute.

The Colonel shifted uneasily, starting to think his exhaustion was getting to him. He could still feel Hawkeye's watch on his back as he faced the doorway.

Ed smirked as the Colonel walked just into the doorway. He slammed the door off of the Colonel. As the door bounced back from its collision with Mustang, Ed backed up. Staying in one spot with a harassed Flame Alchemist standing nearby wasn't the best idea whether he was visible or not.

"Big Brother… Don't be mean."

Al's scolding voice put the damper on Ed's fun. He sighed, looking around for the pencil and paper from earlier. He spotted it on the bedside table.

Mustang straightened his jacket as he closed the door. He almost believed Al's story. Almost. He did believe it when Hawkeye was suddenly backing away from Al's bed, a pencil and paper floating in the air in front of it.

Al didn't seem too surprised, only more confident. That's when he punched at the area where Ed should be standing.

The response was a shift in the pencil, the pad of paper banging Al on the head. A scribbled "Hey!" on the paper a moment later made Al laugh.

Mustang cleared his throat. "Fullmetal?"

Suddenly the pencil was moving.

"_You and Hawkeye almost killed me_!"

The words were quickly shoved in Mustang's face. Of course, only Ed knew that he probably couldn't die, but he didn't want to test the theory if he didn't have to.

"It's not my fault you were sneaking around like a little mouse."

The pad of paper quivered in the air and Mustang could just picture Ed's unheard rant.

"You're as quiet as a mouse today as well I see."

This time Mustang got a messy response on the paper.

"_I'm NOT SHORT!_"

Hawkeye stepped over towards Ed.

"Are you alright Edward?"

Ed stopped to think about it. With all that he had gone through so far, he realized that he was exhausted.

"_I'm fine I guess. Just tired._"

The group was a little surprised to find Ed admitting to being tired or anything of the sort.

"_Did Al tell you how it happened already?_"

"He did," Mustang answered.

Ed knew that this must have changed multiple theories that Mustang had had. They had changed his. He was going to keep the knowledge of the OverWorld to himself though. He felt that somehow they shouldn't know about it.

"Ed." Undine was suddenly standing next to him. "It's time to sleep. I don't know about humans, but it can be life threatening to a spirit to be awake during the night."

Ed didn't even hear Mustang's next question.

"Oh. Why?" He wasn't that shocked to hear about the strange new notice. _"Well, I guess I CAN die._"

"The spirits of death come out at night to collect the souls of all those who died in the day. They'll take us as souls if they find us."

"And where are we supposed to go?"

* * *

Mustang had tried again to get Edward to answer where he was planning to sleep. He had even called Ed short, but still the pencil and paper remained still.

Al spoke up. "He might be talking to Undine."

"Who?"

"His friend I guess. He only mentioned him for a moment right before you came in," Al said, assuming that Undine was male. Ed hadn't exactly specified earlier.

* * *

"So you're saying that when we go to sleep we get transported to the OverWorld? I thought it was hard to get there."

"No, not the OverWorld. The middle between here and the OverWorld! Umm… You know, the darkness we were in before. Now, we must sleep. Just remember the morning."

Ed was surprised when Undine just closed her eyes and disappeared.

"Yeah… sleep… right."

Al started to poke Ed. He felt Ed jump as he poked him. It didn't take more than a moment for Al to get his hand slapped away.

"Mustang was asking where you wanted to sleep Big Brother. Don't make him wait."

"_I think I'm covered, actually._"

"You are?"

"_Yeah. Night Al._"

Ed placed the notepad and pencil back on the nightstand.

"Night Big Brother…"

"Wait, where's he planning on sleeping?"

Al shrugged.

The three would continue talking for a while longer, Hawkeye not saying much, before Mustang and Hawkeye left to find their own beds.

* * *

Ed walked over and sat in a chair. He would have to spend a little time trying to sleep. It didn't take long for him to figure out that he couldn't actually 'sleep.' He could just tell that it wasn't going to happen that way.

Mustang and Hawkeye had left and Al had fallen back asleep. It was nearing midnight. Ed could feel something building up in the air. It wasn't pleasant. He was getting a little desperate, but doing what he'd seen Undine do didn't seem to do a thing for him. He had no idea what remembering the morning had to do with anything, but he had tried that as well though.

Then it was midnight. Black shadows started to float into the air and hover around.

Al stirred uneasily in his sleep for a moment, but didn't stir again.

Ed realized that the shadows were closing in on him too late. As one started coming through the floor Ed pulled his legs up on the chair.

"Oh shit?!"

They reminded him of the gate babies, but they were less human shaped. As they began to grab at him he lashed out. His arm came to a dead stop inside one of the shadows and he couldn't pull it free.

That's when a desperate idea occurred to Ed. He shut his eyes and pictured the sun coming up, shining through his old bedroom window.

* * *

And it was morning. Ed found himself suddenly feeling rested, but lying on a pile of rubble. Undine was lying next to him, watching him.

"I knew it'd be a good idea if I pictured being next to you. I had no idea where you'd wake up."

Ed ignored Undine and looked around.

"We're in… Resembool?"

"You wake up where you want to be, or where you have to be."

"Oh crap! What about Al?"

"How far away are we?"

"A day away by train…"

"We'll just have to wake up there then. We can explore here until tomorrow. You know this place, right?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm not going to see anyone though. Not until I'm back to normal."

"Well, what can we do?"

Ed answered after only a short moment. "I'm going to visit my Mother's grave. I don't care what you do, just don't cause too much trouble."

Undine giggled but didn't leave. She followed Ed.

Ed was watching the ground as he walked, knowing the way by heart.

He was getting close to his Mother's grave when he realized that there was somebody else in the graveyard besides Undine and himself.

His Father stood over the grave.

"D-Dad?!" Ed had thought Hohenhiem was dead. He hadn't seen him since he'd been sent to the other side of the gate.

Hohenhiem looked over at Ed. "Edward?" His eyes widened. "What happened to you? Who's your friend?"

"T-this is your fault!"

"What are you blaming on me this time?"

"My genetics, that's what! Part spirit? Yeah, real great. How do I turn back?"

"Oh. Well, I suppose that is my fault then… Hmm."

"Well?!" Ed yelled, debating if he should punch his dad in the face.

"I'm not sure."

Ed practically screamed. "HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW?!"

"I rid myself of that part of me before it took over."

Ed fell to his knees. His hopes had raised for the shortest moment before being utterly crushed. Undine patted him on the head.

"I'm not a dog," he muttered.

"No, but I can still give you a sympathetic pat on the head, can't I?"

* * *

Huh.... I feel sort of like my story is going downhill from the start, but I'm trying. Hopefully it'll get better again (hopefully I'm just imagining it in the first place...).


	6. Alchemy isn't so Different

loopy doopy  
2010-05-08 . chapter 5

its a very nice story, can u plz make an EdxWin part somewhere? plz? thx a lot ^.^

Hmm, well, I'll see. I wasn't planning on any pairings (really. Undine is not going to be paired with Ed, other than through friendship, I swear). I'm sort of bad at that sort of thing, but I can try later on!

* * *

Unnoticed Observer  
2010-05-09 . chapter 5

Poor Ed... How on earth will they be able to reverse what happened??

This is cool! Be waiting for the next chapter!!!

HA! Who says Ed will ever return to normal?! Actually, I'm just writing what I think of as I type… I don't even plan a paragraph ahead…. SOOOO….. I don't even know what the ending will be until I'm writing it…

* * *

BTW! As you can tell, I totally love adding in your guy's ideas. It helps me add a little bit of depth into the story…. Oh, and am I spelling "Hohenheim" correctly?

* * *

Ed and Undine had continued to talk to Hohenheim, well, Undine had started chatting to him about trivial things while Ed glared daggers, until it began getting late.

Something came into Ed's mind. "Hey, how exactly can you see us?" he asked.

Hohenheim laughed a little. "Well, it's quite simple, but it's a long story-"

"Forget the story. How. Can. You. See. Us?"

Sighing, Hohenheim cut to the chase. "Even though I said I got rid of the spirit part of me, all I did was get rid of most of most of it. The small bit that is left… I must make sure it does not begin to take over again. No matter what, it is as much a part of me as I am human."

Ed practically fell over. "You said you didn't know how to turn me back!"

"Edward… It doesn't seem as though there are any traces of being human left within your body."

Ed recalled the Truth saying how his human side had died.

"But," Hohenheim continued, "If you wish, I will tell you how I do it, and maybe you'll be able to work off of that."

Hohenheim's explanation went on until after the sun had already set.

"So, to sum it all up, you more or less turn the spirit within you into a small crystal of energy that resides in your heart using the technique I explained earlier. Got all that?"

Ed, sitting down holding his head, nodded.

"I think so."

"I do too!" Undine said.

Ed looked up in surprise. "You do?!"

"Yep! It's like this, right?"

Ed's eyes widened as Undine suddenly produced a small, blue crystal from seemingly nowhere.

"I-If you have that, you can become human?"

"Huh? No, I don't think so. This is the energy of the river I protect."

Hohenheim pushed Ed's hand back as he tried to take it.

"You don't take something like that away from its owner. But, yes Undine, that is what is what I am speaking of." Hohenheim gently wrapped Undine's fingers back around her crystal. Its glow faded as it disappeared back within her.

He turned to Ed. "You should know what the energy of a human looks like Ed. You even know its name. The 'Philosopher's Stone.'"

Ed blanched.

"It's not what you think. It would only have the energy of one human, and it would have to be your own energy. As of now, you should try to figure out how to access your current energy. I see you already figured out partly how to use it though." His glance went to the bracelets that allowed Ed to keep Undine alive.

An idea came to Ed. "Do you think I might be able to recreate myself?"

"You're a life spirit like I was then, I assume, if you're thinking that."

"I am… I guess."

"Then, no. A life spirit doesn't create. It only preserves, takes, and resumes life."

Ed thought only briefly about that. He already knew how to preserve life. Undine was, once again, a shining example.

"What do you mean by resume life?"

"You should hear about taking it beforehand."

"But-"

"Taking it and resuming life go hand in hand Edward. It's just like alchemy. You must first determine the makeup of what you're working with, break it down, and then rebuild it. Preserving it is knowing its makeup, taking it is breaking it down, and resuming is it how you rebuild it. You must first know the type of life you are working with, whether the life is already gone or yet to go is important. If the life is gone, you may skip to rebuilding it for it is already broken down. You must also determine how the life was lost, however, or how you wish it to go."

"By that you mean… If I were to kill someone by taking their life, I'd have to do some sort of harm to them?"

"Bodily harm is what separates the spirit from the body. Everything becomes a spirit when they die. Most just become the remnants of what they were and enter the gate. This includes every living thing."

Undine's mouth was hanging open as she listened excitedly. Ed just grew more solemn.

"In order to resume a life, the body must be fixed, but all of the material must be there in order to fix the body. You cannot just create one. Then you must rearrange the body back into working order. You must start all of its processes needed for living before you call the soul back, otherwise the soul cannot reattach to the body. Not functioning is considered a cause of death after all."

"So that's where I went wrong…"Ed muttered.

"Did you try to bring someone back already Edward?"

Ed nodded, the little girl from the river plastered in front of his vision.

"We'll talk more in the morning Edward. I need to eat, not to mention use the restroom. I'm tired too…" Hohenheim stood up and left the cemetery.

"Ed? You're Dad is right. It's getting late, we should get some sleep."

Ed sighed. "You know what? Not needing to eat or use the bathroom is kinda weird. Sleeping… I'm not sure I'd call it that."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"You're going to need a lot of help when we're human."

Undine giggled. "When we're human you can help me figure it all out."

The two smiled at each other. "Ed, I really owe you a lot. Goodnight! See you here in the morning."

She disappeared in her sleep.

"Night, Undine," he said into the empty air as he tried to sleep as well. It didn't take long this time. He still remembered the thoughts and feelings from the previous night.

* * *

A short chapter, but I think this one went well. Hope you enjoyed it because I enjoyed writing it. ^^


	7. The Vacation and The First Lead

Mustang was working back at the base camp again, more paperwork on his makeshift desk. As of yet he had yet to tell any of his crew about Edward and Hawkeye wasn't saying anything either. When he had visited Al that morning, Hawkeye once again ordered to stay with him, there had been no sign of Edward. He had apparently left to find a place to sleep and had yet to return.

Havoc practically ran into Mustang's tent, soaking wet and holding in his arms a strangely familiar piece of metal.

"S-Sir!" Havoc said, shaking in front of Mustang with an odd expression of sadness. "I know you aren't in charge of how the cleanup and rescue at the river is going, but I thought… I thought you'd like to see this."

Havoc placed his burden on the desk, and Mustang realized that it was Ed's automail leg. Even the port was still connected to the leg.

"It's the Chief's leg…"

"I can see that Havoc."

"Boss, if the Chief's leg is like this… then…"

"Havoc. I want you to gather the others and visit Alphonse."

"You want us to tell him?"

Mustang smirked, "Actually, I want him to tell you something." Mustang sent him from the tent then and got back to work. He'd visit Alphonse as well, just as soon as he'd finished.

* * *

Havoc, Breda, Falman, and Fuery all stood outside of Al's closed hospital door. Not a single one of them wanted to enter, but they all knew they would have to.

"Ok," Breda said, "Let's think about this. Alphonse has to know what happened to Ed. In order to tell him we have to go in, but none of us want to. Let's draw straws on who has to break the news." They all nodded.

After getting some straws from the cafeteria, Breda held them out. After they all had a straw they stopped for a moment.

"We all have to be in there?" Havoc asked, staring at his closed hand. Everyone nodded as Havoc started the countdown. "Ok, open your hands on the count of three. One. Two. Three."

Fuery had the shortest straw, much to the other's glee.

Al's door opened just then and Hawkeye stood looking at them.

"Are you coming in or not?"

They filed in and stood around Al's bed.

Falman had to give Fuery a small nudge to get him talking.

"U-u-uh, Al, it's about y-y-your brother… about Ed." Al's eyes widened a little. "We, uh, we found Ed's automail leg, um, port a-and all. We-don't-think-he-made-it!" Fuery said, blurting the last part.

Hawkeye spoke up, "The Colonel hasn't told you yet?"

The men looked at each other before Falman asked, "Told us what?"

Hawkeye smiled, "Edward was already found, he's fine."

The four men started at the news. Havoc couldn't help but ask, "B-but we found his leg! Completely detached!"

Al actually smiled. "Really? Then he must have his leg back. He was walking around just fine… I think."

Riza passed the confused men Ed's notes. "The Colonel(2) and I, along with Alphonse, have confirmed."

After a time they all wanted to know where Ed was.

Al looked down at his hands. "We don't know right now. He left last night and hasn't come back yet."

Hawkeye stood up and started ushering the men towards the door. "You should all get back to work. We'll call you in when Edward comes back." The men walked out, knowing better than to mess with Hawkeye. Their spirits (1) were lifted from the news about Ed being alright, if not invisible.

* * *

Even later before everyone went to bed for the night Ed still had not returned. This worried them a little, but not too much. It was Ed after all, and at this point he really did seem invincible to them all.

* * *

When Ed woke up in the morning, once again in Resembool with Undine next to him, he was surprised to find himself in one of the beds at Winry's. Undine was practically falling out of the same bed, having arrived just on the edge of it.

It dawned on Ed as he woke up that he had meant to return to Al that day, not stick around in Resembool. Let alone stick around in order to talk to his…. Well, that bastard that he didn't like very much.

What really surprised Ed was that this time he had woken up in a bed. A quick look around told him that he was in Winry's house. Undine was once again nearby.

"Morning Ed!"

"Mornin'."

"There you are," Hohenheim said from a nearby bed.

Ed was about to respond when Winry spoke up. She was coming into the room with a platter of food.

"Good morning! How'd you sleep last night?

Ed forgot about being invisible as he dove behind Undine just to get away from the dreaded wrench that Winry was sure to fling at him.

"Thank you," she said as she entered. She didn't notice the slight movement of sheets on the bed as Ed got off.

It took only a slight giggle from Undine to make Ed realize he was hiding when he was invisible to Winry.

"S-shut up," Ed said, standing up straight and leaving his hiding spot.

Hohenheim took the food Winry had brought him. "You didn't have to bring it up to me."

"Of course I did. You said you weren't feeling very well last night. I've got to get back to what I was working on, so if you'll excuse me."

Ed was a little shocked at how polite Winry was being. After she had left and the door was closed Hohenheim started talking softly.

"I'm glad you decided to stay for today as well. I'm sorry, but I actually don't have any other information for you." Ed clinched his hands into fists. "I knew you wouldn't stay just to talk to your old man, so I had to lead you on a bit. Sorry."

Ed crossed his arms and sat back down on the bed. Undine sat next to him. "Well, what did you want then?"

"I wanted to ask how you and Al have been faring, but mainly I just wanted you to have a vacation. I thought it'd be good for you."

Ed begrudgingly started talking. Undine even asked questions here and there. Ed was still talking when Winry entered again. The sentence that Ed had been saying died on his lips.

"Hello again! I finished the automail adjustments I was working on and I figured you might like some company up here."

"Well, I could always use company like yours."

Ed's eyebrow twitched as he watched the two talk. After a moment Winry moved to sit on the bed and Ed and Undine had to move to make room for her. In fact, Ed had to practically dive off the bed so that she wouldn't sit on him. The noise Ed's moving made caused Winry to look in his direction.

"What was that?"

Hohenheim shrugged. "I didn't hear anything." While Winry's head was still turned he motioned for Ed and Undine to leave the room through the open door.

Ed decided to do as Hohenheim suggested. "Let's go Undine." Ed waved a farewell to his father as he walked out. He didn't plan on coming back.

"Where are we going?" Undine asked as they walked towards the front door.

"I didn't get to visit my Mom's grave yesterday, so I was thinking I'd go today."

Undine nodded. "It must be nice to have a mother."

Ed gave her a strange look. "My mom is dead."

"At least she is that much. I don't have a mother, or a father."

"They died?"

"No. I was created when my river was just a small stream and required a spirit to care for it. My river is young; it still has time to grow. Unless something causes it to cease its existence."

They had reached the front door and it didn't occur to Ed that opening a door was no longer considered normal if someone was around. "So, you're saying that you never had any parents at all?"

"That's right."

"Who's there?" an old lady asked, standing just outside on the porch. She was watching the door now.

Ed let go of the doorknob, trying too late to fix his mistake. The doorknob turned back to its rest position.

Pinako took a puff on her pipe and blew it towards the door. The smoke swirled around Ed and Undine.

"Hmph. Small children?"

Ed had to hold back his temper at being called small. It wasn't surprising that Pinako wasn't alarmed at two 'ghosts' coming out of her front door, since she seemed to know just as much as Hohenheim.

Ed just walked off the porch and down the road, Undine following behind.

The two spent the rest of the day sitting next to Trisha Elric's grave. As night fell Undine finally spoke.

"It was very nice meeting your mother, Ed. I think she was a very warm person."

Ed smiled, "How can you tell?"

"By how much you love her. Good night." Undine went to sleep, vanishing.

Ed stood up and placed his hand on top of his Mom's grave. For once he wasn't that sad at seeing it, in fact he almost felt as though she was there. "_I could bring her back now, but what would that really do?_" he thought. He was certain his mom wouldn't appreciate it anyways. She'd probably be upset with him, just like her homunculus.

Ed closed his eyes and pictured Al's hospital room and the morning's sunrise in the window.

* * *

"Alphonse," Hawkeye said as she helped him check out. "Do you have a place to stay for tonight?" It was still only morning but she liked to be ready.

"I was going to stay at the inn. Do you think Brother will be able to find me?"

"He found you here didn't he? Now, I must get back to work. I'll come by later to check on you."

"Alright, thank you Ms. Hawkeye."

Ed had never shown up the night before, with everyone standing around Al's hospital bed. Al had never really been hurt in the train crash but the hospital had insisted he had stayed for a few nights. They had decided it would be alright to release him and a few of the other patients that were in good condition.

Mustang had apparently found a lead on who had destroyed the bridge and caused the accident and was requiring Hawkeye to return.

Al said goodbye to Hawkeye outside of the hospital and walked the short distance to the inn on his own. When he arrived and asked to rent a room he was told that his room had already been paid for and that it was on the second floor.

Al accepted the key and went upstairs. It wasn't like he had any luggage left and the only items he had were the notebook and pencil. After he walked around his room for a moment he went back downstairs with his notebook and sat in the lobby. Ed wouldn't find him up in his room, he was sure. After a while he started to talk to the receptionist.

It's not like he knew that Ed wouldn't be back that day either.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mustang was waiting for Hawkeye to arrive. From what he could tell about the explosion so far was that whatever had blown the bridge up was lost or completely destroyed. No one had dredged any scrap resembling a bomb from the river and nothing was left behind on or under the bridge.

Mustang was fairly certain that it wasn't the doing of the Isbalans, and they were too far from Drachma's border for them to do anything, not to mention that blowing up one bridge wouldn't be worth the risk of traveling so far into the country. Mustang was also fairly certain that the government wasn't behind it. He'd worked hard enough to rid the government of its corruption.

That left some group of rebels or a rogue alchemist as the main suspects. The military had had no word about any such group of rebels around so some unknown alchemist gone wild was the best bet. In fact, there were rumors of one such alchemist nearby, in town. (5)

When Hawkeye arrived Mustang pulled her back into the car she had just gotten out of.

"Sorry to call you all the way here, Lieutenant (6), but I thought we could talk on the way. We're heading back to town to make a little visit."

Mustang filled her in on the drive back. They were searching for a young boy, around Edward's age by the name of Kynton Beate. "He's new to alchemy apparently, but he seems to have it out for the military. From what we've heard he's an anarchist."

When the two arrived at the address of Kynton Beate, they found the house empty, and from the looks of things, long since deserted. None of the neighbors knew where the boy had gone, but they knew his parents were dead. At least his mother was, his father had left when Kynton was little.

Hawkeye drove Mustang back to the base camp after another hour of asking around. Their lead had gone stale for now, but Mustang was determined to at least talk to the boy. For now Mustang had to get back to more paperwork. He sent Hawkeye with some clothes and money and told her to rent a room at Alphonse's hotel and wait for Ed to show up again.

Hawkeye was surprised to find Al asleep in one of the chairs in the lobby when she walked in. The receptionist waved her over quietly.

"Let the boy sleep. He's been waiting there for someone all day. Hardly moved an inch. Would you like a room, ma'am?"

Hawkeye rented herself a room and went to place her things in it before joining Alphonse in the lobby, waiting for Edward with him.

As it became late Hawkeye woke Alphonse up to make him move to his own bed up in his room.

Al agreed. He could tell that Ed wasn't going to come, again.

* * *

Oooooh a pun! I love puns.

You know what I realized? Mustang should be a General, not a Colonel, at this point. It's a little late to change it now, but forgive the error. Oh, and if any of the crew end up referring to Ed as something they usually wouldn't, like Havoc calling him "Chief" or Fuery just saying "Ed", it's my bad. I can't quite remember who calls him what, but I think almost all of them say Edward. Mustang would say Fullmetal, and Havoc says Chief. Fuery was the only one who called him Ed though I think….

Oh, and I know that Hohenheim and Ed being on their side of the gate is a bit of a plot hole, but just ignore that. Al even has his memories, which is another plot hole I'm choosing to ignore. If you really want an explaination let's just say something like the Philosopher's Stone was stronger than in the anime and worked to bring back Hohenheim and keep Ed and Al on the same side of the gate with Al's memories intact or something.

One more plot hole, Mustang should have a patch over his eye. So if you haven't been picturing a patch over Mustang's eye, picture a patch over his eye.

I could have sworn I named the town that Al is in… I can't seem to find what I named it though. Even if you just comment to tell me what I named my town, I'd appreciate it. If no one tells me I'm renaming it!

She's a Lieutenant right? After Mustang becomes General (even if I'm still calling him a colonel)?

I totally updated after almost a whole year just because someone threatened to throw axes at me if I didn't. I told you before if I get reviews I'll update lol. Of course, that's not always true though. It's usually if I get a review about a week after I post that it'll make me feel like posting again…


	8. Calm Before the Storm

Ed arrived in Alphonse's hospital room to find a new patient in the bed. Cursing, Ed left the room, Undine in tow.

It wasn't like Ed hadn't expected Al to be released sooner or later, but it was a pain to have to find him. He was sure that Al wouldn't have left town either. That meant that Al was probably at one of the hotels in the area, the only problem was finding which hotel Al was at.

* * *

Hawkeye and Al sat in the lobby of the inn, chatting about harmless things. It was getting on towards noon and they were both hungry, but Al was reluctant to leave to go eat.

"Alphonse, if you want I'll wait here for Edward. You should eat something." Al grumbled a 'no thanks' and didn't move. "I'm hungry too, Alphonse, so if you'll be kind enough to bring back something for me I'd appreciate it." Hawkeye would have gotten the food for the both of them, but Al had hardly left his chair since he had first arrived at the inn. She figured he needed to get up and move around, and going to get lunch was the perfect solution. "Here," she said, handing over some money. "Get whatever you like."

Of course, Al hadn't agreed to go but Hawkeye was hard to turn down, especially when she was forcing you to do something.

Al nodded, standing up. He wasn't really happy about it but he would go, as fast as he could.

* * *

For once, Ed was having a bit of luck. Sure, he had been walking around all day trying to find Al, but just as Ed was about to enter his third hotel to look for Al, Al walked outside.

Ed ran up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Al tensed and spun around.

"Brother?" Al asked, but not too loudly.

Ed gave him a small push. The smile that spread across Al's face was so bright that even Ed couldn't help but smile.

"Where have you been? I was worried that you got into trouble or something!"

Al, who was talking at a normal volume, to all passerby, looked like he was talking to himself. Al tried to hand Ed the notepad but Ed pushed it away and put a finger over Al's lips.

"O-oh." Al walked back inside, being careful to leave the door open for longer than necessary. Hawkeye looked over at him.

"Did you forget something?" She asked.

Al shook his head and walked over to her. "Let's go up to my room for a minute." In a softer voice, "He's here."

Hawkeye nodded in understanding and stood up. Lunch would have to wait. She excused herself and told Al to go on up without her, she had a phone call to make.

Once they had filed into Al's room he repeated his question. "Where have you been, Big Brother?"

Ed took the pencil and notepad this time when Al held them out.

"_I went to Resembool._"

"What for?" Al asked after he read what Ed wrote.

"_I didn't exactly mean to go there._"

Al raised an eyebrow at this. Ed took the notepad back before Al could ask anything.

"_It's too hard to explain, but let's just say where I wake up is going to be different from where I fall to sleep, if I'm not careful._"

"You won't tell me?"

"_It's not that. I just can't really explain it._"

Al wasn't quite satisfied with that answer, but he let it go.

Ed wasn't sure what else to say. He didn't want to tell Al about seeing their dad, and he still felt as though he shouldn't talk about the OverWorld either.

"Hey, Ed?" Undine asked.

"Hmm?" was Ed's response as he tried to think of what to write.

"Do you think you could read to me what you're saying to your brother?"

Ed looked up. "Oh. I guess I could."

As Ed read the answers he'd already given to Undine, Al said something, but Ed missed it.

"_What'd you say, Al?_"

"I said, Havoc found your automail."

Ed hadn't realized his automail still existed. "_He did?_" Ed made sure to read it to Undine as he wrote it.

Al nodded. "You have your real leg back?"

"_My arm too. Sorry, I didn't think to mention it._"

Al smiled. "See Ed? I told you that you'd get your arm and leg back too."

Ed laughed. "_I think I would have wanted to keep the automail. I don't like this much._"

Undine piped up. "I don't either!"

Ed laughed again and wrote, "_Undine doesn't like it either._"

Al was a bit surprised. "He's still with you?"

"He?" Undine said, indignant.

Ed scribbled quickly to Al, "_Undine is a _girl! _You'd better say you're sorry before she gets you._" Ed hadn't read the line out loud, but Undine asked him to. He didn't read 'before she gets you' part to her. He hadn't seen Undine get angry yet, but considering most girls that Ed met seemed to have a thing for violence, he didn't want to push it.

Al apologized quickly after reading what Ed had written. Another silence descended on the three.

"Don't worry, Brother, we'll get you back to normal in no time. The only question is how…"

"_I already know how to get back to being human again. Undine too. Two ways in fact… The first choice is just extremely hard to actually do and the second has a bit of a kink in the workings._"

"What's the first way?"

"_Well, you know The Truth, right? The creepy guy from the gate?_"

"Y-yeah?" Al didn't like where this was going already. Ed had left out seeing The Truth from his story of what had happened to him.

"_He said that if Undine and I 'saved the world' then he'd turn us both into normal humans._"

"….."

"_As for the kink in the second… I'd still need to be partway human for that to work, and I'm not._"

Once again, Al stayed silent. He was looking at how Ed wasn't referring to himself as human, even after hearing him say so many times before that it was the soul that made you human. That, and how Ed had casually mentioned that he was supposed to save the world.

Hawkeye knocked and entered. "Colonel Mustang is coming as we speak. Edward, you're to wait here for him to arrive." She spoke the last part to the floating notepad. She walked over and read what was already written.

Hawkeye actually looked worried as she finished reading. "How are just two people supposed to save the world?"

Ed shrugged before remembering that they couldn't see him. "_I'm not even sure what that's supposed to mean. The bastard didn't tell me anything._"

Al's stomach grumbled just then. He blushed a bit. "Excuse me, I haven't eaten anything yet. Ah! I'm sorry Ms. Hawkeye, you asked me to bring you something. I'll be right back, alright Brother? Oh, would you two like anything?"

"_Nah, we're good. I'll be here._"

Al laughed a bit as he walked out the door. "I'm surprised you're going to wait for the Colonel!"

Ed threw the pencil at Al's retreating back. "It's not like I have anything better to do," he grumbled.

* * *

Meh, just a filler chapter really. I felt like Ed and Al needed to talk a bit. Sorry for using such a lame phrase as "save the world" but hey, Ed can do anything so why not?


End file.
